100M engine start

Watch a video clip of the fan­tas­tic Austin-Healey 100M engine start up. That fantastic straight-four fires up, the lazy burble of this engine will transport you back to the nineteen-fifties for a dose of golden-age British Sports car glamour.

The Austin-Healey 100M’s 2639cc four-cylinder is a development of an engine that started life originally in the Austin A90. The 100M adopted engine modifications over the standard 100 that Healey had learnt through their Le-Mans racing programme. These were – larger car­bu­ret­tors, a cold air box, high-lift camshaft and 8.1:1 com­pres­sion pis­tons, increas­ing the power to 110 bhp. It is a lovely, lazy unit that can go for 200,000 miles between rebuilds.

The Austin-Healey 100M was released In 1955. A factory built, limited edition version of the Healey 100, (as mentioned) fitted with performance modifications that Healey had employed on their racing cars in the 1953 Le Mans 24 hour race. In total, 640 100Ms were built by the factory between September 1955 and July 1956 (all BN2 series cars). This rarity makes the 100M one of the most sought after of all Austin Healey models.

— Carphile

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